SamLab – Collaboration for the implementation of municipal climate adaptation through a policy lab approach

Municipalities play an important role in the implementation of climate adaptation in Sweden. The municipalities face however major challenges in translating plans and strategies into action.

The proposed project addresses challenges in municipal organizations, which cannot be solved through technical measures, but require the development of innovative policies.The project aims to develop policies concerning procedures, roles and responsibilities, prioritization and conflicts of interests in climate adaptation in participating municipalities.

These policies will lead to general policies recommendations that can be applied by municipalities nationally to improve procedures and collaboration in their climate adaptation work.

The project will also lead to long-term collaboration forums for discussions and exchanges of experience on climate adaptation.The policies are developed through a co-creative policy lab approach with municipalities and other stakeholders. Interviews will provide an understanding of current organisational forms and challenges.

The interviews, which are complemented by a literature study and a collection of good examples, are the basis for co-creation workshops to identify of possible forms of cooperation and ways to solve identified challenges. The workshops will in turn lead to the development of policy recommendations.

Two parallel policy labs will be organized to address internal collaboration in municipalities and cooperation with private landowners.